


The Electricity Ends and Begins Here

by Kitty_KatAllie



Series: Do You Believe in Fairies? [13]
Category: Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
Genre: Bisexual Female Character, F/F, filler and fluff, my adorabe lesbians all of them i love them, okay and Rey the Unicorn Bi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-01 13:14:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20815739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_KatAllie/pseuds/Kitty_KatAllie
Summary: Twelfth Timestamp: Renee’s Second EventTakes place sometime before Chapter 36 "Siblings over the Summer". || Renee blushed bright red in embarrassment while shaking her head furiously. She’d always been prone to daydreams, but she hadn’t been caught out on them like this since she was barely 16.





	The Electricity Ends and Begins Here

Renee couldn’t help but hum happily as she brushed down one of the last cows— Hagar. The sweet brown Jersey cow mooed quietly, nose bumping into Renee’s side as she walked past to put away all her tools. She giggled and paused, giving Hagar her customary cuddles and pats until she was satisfied enough to return to her trough. Just then, Hanna pushed open one of the doors wide and sunlight filled the barn with its early morning golden glow. She pulled up short seeing Renee, then propped both fists on her hips.

“My girl, don’t tell me you’re getting lazy right when our flocks and herds are finally getting up to scratch again?” Hanna teased as she pushed the second door fully open. A few of the more rambunctious sheep ambled out quickly, the goats and their new kids trotting out on their tails.

Renee blushed bright red in embarrassment while shaking her head furiously. She’d always been prone to daydreams, but she hadn’t been caught out on them like this since she was barely 16.

“I was just taking my time is all,” Renee murmured, quickly turning to take her tools over to the shelves and wall-hooks to be put away.

“It’s coming on two hours since you came out here for your chores,” Hanna pointed out. Which made Renee blush even hotter. She should’ve already been to the coop by now.

Hanna tutted, but her warm eyes were twinkling as she came up close and cupped Renee’s heated face in both her weathered hands. “Maybe all those flowers getting sent your way this past week has turned your head. Not used to romance, are you, Sunshine?” Hanna teased.

“Mama!” Renee hissed. Hearing her nickname, something her dad and mom had called her since she was a baby— their ‘Rey of sunshine’— kept her from feeling too guilty, or worried about just exactly _who_ had been sending those flowers. If her mother were really upset, she’d never have used that loving nickname.

“Don’ think I don’t appreciate it, what that Brass girl is up to. It's about time someone romanced you like your Papa used to romance me back in the day,” Hanna said, smiling happily at her inward reminiscing.

Still flushed, Renee couldn’t help but giggle. “Used to? Papa and you still have as much romance as teenagers.”

Hanna and Renee laughed together at the truth in that.

“Very true, but he’s been slackin’ these past few years. Seeing your young woman come 'round is giving him a bit of a boot,” Hanna said with a wink. Renee giggled again and they walked together towards the coop. Cain was just over by the windmill, lugging out heavy sacks of feed just ground, and they waved casually towards him.

“Mama?” Renee said hesitantly after they ducked into the coop and picked up some small baskets by the door. Hanna went straight for the silkworms, her special projects as she called them, while Renee headed towards the still lazily-roosting hens.

“Yes?” Hanna replied absently, but encouragingly, as she checked for silk and cooed over the row of silkworms.

“You don’t mind… really? Bout Kathy?” Renee managed to blurt out, voice whisper-y and cheeks tomato-red. She carefully inspected the egg she expertly slipped out from under the nearest hen. It all but sparkled in the morning sunlight coming through the open windows high above them.

“Oh, Sunshine. A'course I don’t mind, and neither does your Papa. We had hopes, once, about you and that Fisher-boy,” Hanna said candidly. Renee sighed a little at that, but thankfully the wound no longer hurt as it once did. “But all we really want is for you to be happy. If it means being with someone or not, we just want that person to see you for the good-hearted girl we know you are. And well, Kathy always did treat you so special, never crossed our minds just why.” Hanna chortled quietly and shook her head at her own past self for being so blind. Nowadays it’d take a blind man not to notice how over-the-moon that Brass girl was for their daughter.

Renee ducked her head, fighting and losing a battle against the pleased smile tugging at her lips. “We’re not… we’re not dating, Mama. Not really.”

“Not _yet_,” Hanna retorted, sounding very sure and amused. “Mayhaps Kathy is big and shameless with her feelings for you, but don’t think _I _ don’t see how you watch her when she isn’t looking. That ain’t a look of someone with no feelings of their own.”

Renee blinked in surprise, turning to gape at her mother. Hanna looked all too pleased at catching her daughter off guard. 

“I may work in a barn, but I wasn’t _born_ in one.”

Renee burst out laughing at that, startling the hen nearest her into squawking.

“You _are_ in here! Whatcha doin’ still workin’ so late in the morning?” Kathy demanded as she strode into the coop in all her Brassy confidence. It was all Renee could do to _not_ sigh happily, seeing Kathy bring in the sunshine with her. Each stomp of her cowboy boots was a familiar thudding bass that matched how Renee’s heart sped up just a little in Kathy’s presence these days. Because each time, there was something new—

“I went by the beach on the way here, c’n you believe all these shells I found? Ya like these doncha, Rey? Mebbe we can make ya a bracelet like mine fer your birthday this autumn! We could match!” Kathy offered, showing Renee what amounted to almost a complete bouquet of pretty sakura shells carefully polished clean of sand. Which explained why there was so much sand on Kathy’s pretty red skirt.

“That sounds like a great idea, Kat. It would be so cute! I never think to make or buy jewelry for myself… but I do like yours a lot,” Renee said, smiling earnestly as she took her gifts and pressed them against her too-fast heartbeat. Kathy grinned lopsidedly and blushed with delight before tossing her long ponytail of gorgeous golden hair over her shoulder. She propped her arms akimbo and cocked one hip to the side.

“Yeah, Evie had some good taste, but it ain’t right you not botherin’ with getting yerself somethun nice if ya want it. I’ll make sure ya treat yerself this year.”

Renee’s eyes dropped to her basket of eggs and she began to sway back and forth, feeling light-headed and dizzy. No one had ever tried so hard to make Renee feel so special before, no one not her parents, anyway. Had this been hiding under Kathy's brash veneer all this time? This desire to spoil and anticipate Renee’s needs or wants? It was still so thrilling to think it, that someone as amazing and bright and _confident_ and _beautiful_ as Kathy could care so deeply for so long for someone boring and ordinary like Renee.

Being in the eye of Hurricane Kathy’s wooing made it hard to believe she was so boring or ordinary, though.

“Well, now, I’m sure you girls have some plans or another. Rey, finish up with those birds before they start getting ideas about my silkworms,” Hanna said, voice laced with humor.

“Oh, of course, sorry, Mama!” Renee squeaked. She fumbled to put away the handful of shells, smiling gratefully when Kathy took the basket from her.

“How bout I finish gettin’ any eggs ‘n put ‘em up in the shop? We gotta cook up that feast fer your picnic, so we better get movin’,” Kathy suggested wisely.

“Picnic? Again with visiting that Witch Princess character? You aren’t _bothering_ her, are you, Rey?” Hanna asked while leveling Renee with a _look_.

“Oh no, Mama, really! V-The Witch Princess invited us!”

“She even used our names ‘n all,” Kathy said with a loud laugh. “Who wouldn’ want Rey comin’ back with more delicious cookin’?”

“The raspberry pie was her favorite and that was Papa’s, not mine,” Renee pointed out fairly, trying not to preen at the praise.

“It’s good to hear that she’s reachin’ out to people, at last. Mayhap she’ll finally leave that forest and we’ll see her flittin’ about again,” Hanna said thoughtfully.

They finished the last of the chores, Kathy leaving with a brush of her hand against Renee’s as she passed. Renee had to turn away, flustered and shy, when she noticed her mother’s teasing wink. By the time the last of the chickens and ducks were fed and Renee got back to the house-shop, all the eggs were already set in the display for selling, only a few left to put in the fridge for the family. Renee took out the supplies they would need for the lunch she had planned. Kathy quickly set about washing the fruit and veggies as Renee got out dishes and cutting board.

“Phoebe might be there, too. She’s got that big project, yeah?” Kathy said a little curiously.

“Oh, maybe! Now the storms are past, I think she might be. Last I heard, she was waiting for some order coming in from the city,” Renee said. She frowned. “I should make a little extra just in case.”

“If she ain’t there, it’s still gonna get ate. Yer food’s too good t'waste,” Kathy said as she brought the newly washed food over. Renee tsked and shook her head.

“I’m no Chase. Or Yolanda!”

“Ah, but you’re a Horn. Yer whole family could cook mine under the table,” Kathy said, leaning against the counter and crossing her legs at the ankle. She reached over to brush a stray length of brown hair behind Renee’s ears before it could get in her eyes as she sliced a nice-sized tomato.

She glanced up and Kathy quickly pulled her hand away. She gnawed on her thumbnail, carefully avoiding Renee’s startled look as a blush unfurled over her nose and cheeks. “Sorry. Shouldna done that.”

“No! I mean… no, it’s fine. I didn’t mind,” Renee whispered, looking down to where her knife balanced on its edge on the wooden cutting board.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Just barely out the corner of her eye, Renee caught the incredulous smile on Kathy’s face. The taller blonde glanced away and cleared her throat awkwardly behind her fist.

“Mebbe, um, later this week sometime… we could go t’the beach? Have some cheese fondue ‘n play in the sand?” Kathy suggested slowly, hesitantly. “Ya could even bring your pole, if’n you wanted.”

“Y-yes… I would like that,” Renee said, blushing to her hairline and trying not to sway in place while holding a _knife_.

“Yeah? Gr-great, tha’s great,” Kathy said in a whoosh of a breath. She sounded so _relieved_ and _nervous_. It made Renee giggle helplessly. “So, uh, what c’n I do now? Cut somethun? Balance a cup on a tray?”

Renee laughed again and shook her head. “How about you slice and butter that fresh bread over there? It should still be warm.”

“I c’n do that!”

* * *

The hike through Fugue Forest was _so easy_ these days. It didn’t even make Renee flinch when the trees grew too close together in some places so that not even a single sliver of light made it through the canopy, or when the weird noises of the wind or unseen wild animals rustled through the bushes and trees. Kathy’s steady and easygoing chatter helped a lot, but just coming through as often as she did probably helped the most. Fugue Forest wasn’t so scary these days. Something Luke always laughed at her for when they were kids, and now laughed at her for taking so long to figure it out.

“It really is my turn to take the basket, Kat,” Renee said as they broke through into one of the rare clearings. They’d switched it back and forth a few times, mostly to take turns getting around or over the occasional tree or boulder that blocked their way forward. “You’ve been lugging that backpack this whole way, too. I really should’ve carried that basket myself.”

“Nah, the pack ain’t heavy ‘n I’m sure we’re almost there. Don’ matter now,” Kathy said, expertly hoisting it out of Renee’s reach. “Sides, I got a better idea fer your hand.”

“Hm?”

Kathy snagged ahold of the closest one and grinned even as she blushed. “We spent this whole walk with enough room fer the Goddess ‘tween us.”

Renee sputtered loudly until she burst into surprised giggles. “Kathy! All you had t’do was ask if you wanted to hold my hand.”

“I’m twenty-one years old. It’s a bit late t’be holdin’ someone’s hand fer the first time,” Kathy muttered, but she squeezed her hand around Renee’s. “’s embarrassing.”

“I think it’s nice,” Renee replied, swinging their hands happily between them. “I definitely could carry that basket and hold your hand at the same time, though.” Kathy just laughed as her tensed shoulders sagged. They walked the remaining bit of distance without once releasing their hands.

It was as sunny and humid as ever in the Witch’s swamp. There seemed to be a few more flowers than before, which made Renee inwardly sigh in relief. As sunny and hot as it was, there was something so…_oppressive_ and lonely about this little swamp hidden away from everyone and everything. Seeing just a few more wildflowers, with their bright _lively_ colors, went a long way to lightening Renee’s worry over the Witch.

It was probably crazy to be worried about a centuries-old witch like Vivi, who obviously could take care of herself and had been for years and years. But still… there were moments when Renee left, and Vivi was standing there in her doorway, all alone and arms crossed over belly, that had Renee’s stomach filling with lead.

When they got to the door, and Renee reached up with her free hand to knock, Kathy’s hand slowly pulled away from Renee’s. She glanced over in confusion, her hand feeling strangely bare and empty, but Kathy was shrugging off a shoulder strap of her backpack with a little sigh.

“Okay, now you really must hand me the basket. You’re tired!”

“It’s _hot_, ‘m not _tired_,” Kathy protested, though she did hand over the basket so she could finish taking off her pack.

“It’s better hot than _cold_. Winter is coming soon enough,” Vivi said as she opened the door and glared at them. She looked more frazzled than usual, her hair a mess and hat crooked. “What do you want?”

“Lunch? Ya tol’ us t’come, doncha remember?” Kathy said, one eyebrow rising.

For a blink of a time, Vivi looked almost _contrite_. Then, she was sneering in all her witchy superiority and tossing back her mane of silver hair.

“Of course I remember. I just didn’t think you’d come back so _soon_. I suppose you’ll be a pleasant distraction from my current _visitor_,” she hissed the last word like it was a filthy word.

“Are you talking about me?” came Phoebe’s voice from within the cottage before Kathy or Renee could be surprised by the idea of another visitor not them.

“Glad we packed extra,” Renee whispered to Kathy as Vivi spun on her heel and led them inside. Kathy winked.

“My Daddy didn’ raise no fool. Always gotta be thinkin’ ahead for the mebbes.”

Renee’s Papa didn’t raise a fool, but he _did_ raise a daydreamer rather than a planner. She shook her head at herself, grateful for Kathy’s foresight.

Vivi was standing smackdab in the middle of her cottage, hands on her hips, and her bright pumpkin-orange eyes glaring suspiciously up at Phoebe with her lips pursed and her nose wrinkled. Renee and Kathy both began to cough, and Renee felt her eyes immediately start watering. There was a _disgusting_odor hovering in the air and most likely coming from the cauldron in the little kitchenette. Thanks to Vivi's magical-blackthumb, even her potions went awry on a good day. Today must’ve been a very _bad_ day.

“This… this _engineer_ has been banging around my house all morning with her hammer and nails and wires,” Vivi toed at the pile of unused insulated wiring on the ground. Phoebe tsked.

“What did I say about touching my stuff, Ms. Witch?”

“It’s Witch _Princess_.”

“Of what country, _your Highness_,” Phoebe retorted from her perch on her ladder.

“Oh, you… you _modern_.”

“She says it like Irene says ‘millennial’,” Kathy joked. Renee snickered and Phoebe tossed them a smirk over her shoulder.

“I can’t touch her things, and she’s _terribly_ uncouth and disrespectful, and my potion went _horribly_ wrong thanks to her noise and distractions!” Vivi told Renee with a stamp of her foot.

“From what I hear, you don’t need a lot of help with that,” Phoebe said nonchalantly. She held up a staple gun.

“Not that wretched thing again!” Vivi cried, with some actual fear in her eyes.

“How about we just take you outside?” Renee suggested, taking Vivi’s hands in hers and quickly walking backwards. “We brought some things for badminton. Have you ever played?”

“Badminton?”

“Yes, please, get her out of here,” Phoebe groaned fervently.

“This is _my_ house!”

“If you’d rather just use a wood stove to cook everything, I’ll leave,” Phoebe pointed out. Vivi actually pouted and look down at her soft, lily-white hands still held in Renee’s tanner, callused ones.

“Let’s get outta here. The smell is bad enough. Let’s getcha out in the sunshine,” Kathy said, getting her hands on the Witch’s shoulders and helping steer her towards the front door. 

“I left the windows open. It’ll air out,” Vivi protested while shuffling along with them.

“Not soon enough,” Phoebe muttered with a shake of her head.

“Could you put the cold things away for us, Phoebe? There’s some juice and sandwiches that would be better staying in the icebox,” Renee asked hopefully.

Phoebe set down her staple gun and climbed down her ladder. “The sooner she gets a fridge the better. An _icebox_. In the 21st century.”

“_Modern_.”

“_Stone Age_.”

Vivi gasped in outrage, and Kathy and Renee got her out the door a moment later. The outrage faded quickly to be replaced with something more bemused. “That woman isn’t afraid me. Not one single bit.”

“Pheebs ain’t scurred of nothun,” Kathy said with a shrug. “Never met no one with a bigger spine.”

“That’s very true," Renee agreed with a little giggle. "She was mining in Garmon when she was only ten, and when the lights went all out, Phoebe just kept going in the dark with only a single head-lamp.”

Kathy chuckled. “Oh-bro hated goin’ in there when it was a really dark day. I think he were __happy__ when that rockslide blocked up the lower floors, even if he missed findin’ the good ores. Tol’ me he didn’ know how Pheebs could stand it.”

“Hmm,” Vivi said pensively. She scowled a second later. “I still don’t like her. Now. What’s badminton?”

“A hella lotta fun! You n’ Rey c’n be on the same team. I’m more than enough fer ya both,” Kathy declared, flexing one arm. She opened up her pack and took out the rackets and a small cardboard tube of birdies. Vivi squinted suspiciously as Renee handed her one of the rackets.

“You just smack the birdie, that feathered ball there. We don’t have a net, Kathy,” Renee pointed out.

Kathy frowned, bit her thumbnail, then lit up. She took a few paces, looked around them, then stuck the heel of her boot deep in the peat-y mud of the Witch’s yard. Slowly, with a few under the breath grunts, Kathy dragged her heel through mud and weeds and grass to carve out a line. Vivi glared a bit, but didn't stop her.

“Ya just gotta get the birdie over the line, got it?” Kathy said, twirling her racket in her hand and grinning carelessly.

“Sounds easy enough,” Vivi allowed.

“I’ll help you out, too, team mate,” Renee said, holding out a hand with her pinkie extended. Vivi blinked and then that rare, soft smile flickered over her face.

“Completely unnecessary,” she muttered as she linked her pinkie with Renee’s and scowled to cover up her momentary lapse.

Badminton ended up being a huge success. The Witch Princess had a competitive streak a mile wide and seemed to delight in smashing the birdie as hard as possible through the air. She actually _cackled_ when Kathy had to dive out of the way of one particular well-aimed volley. Kathy was just as competitive and filled to the brim with the energy of a horse. Watching her dart and leap over the ground, fierce and excited with every swing of the racket, had Renee getting flustered and giddy. When they were just girls, Renee always envied the older girl’s svelte physique and beautiful golden hair. It took Kathy’s midnight confession for Renee to turn that envy into something more… covetous. She didn’t want those things for herself, she just wanted to look and keep looking. She liked how Kathy tossed her pretty hair and grinned widely in unabashed cheer, how her green eyes lit up in excitement, and how every stride was long and determined, showing off her trim, pale thighs. And. So. Much. Skin. Renee couldn’t help but turn away and fan herself, pretending it was only the summer heat and not the flat expanse of Kathy’s bare stomach that had her cheeks heating.

She had noticed women before… in an offhand sort of way. It wasn’t until she’d met the Witch Princess that it wasn’t so offhand any more. When Evie had dragged her, very willingly, into the Forest and she caught her first look at the Witch Princess, there had been no other word for it. Renee had been smitten. She’d never seen anyone so gorgeous, so _otherworldly_ and _different_. That silver hair and those unnatural and beautiful eyes, the strange clothes and the odd accent that sounded so… _picturesque,_ and the voice that was raspy and low like those old-timey jazz singers that Toby liked to listen to so much. It had all been a lethal combination and Renee was hooked.

But it was like meeting a celebrity. Someone almost unreal. She’d grown up on stories about the Witch Princess and the Goddess after all. Her little infatuation might’ve blown its course soon enough, or perhaps the more she’d gotten to know Vivi, the more real she became, the more it could’ve developed into something real. She would never know now, and she wasn’t about to regret it.

She looked towards Kathy, pulling at her collar to flap the bodice of her dress a little. Kathy was laughing, head thrown back and face shiny with sweat and exertion, as Vivi snarled through a defense that her birdie _hadn’t_ gone out bounds because there _weren’t_ any out of bounds, technically. Renee’s hand went to her pocket and she stepped over to Kathy’s side to dab at Kathy’s face with the kerchief she’d just pulled free. Kathy startled slightly, then grinned happily at Renee.

“Whaddaya think, Rey? Should I give it t’her Highness?”

“_Give_ it? What is that supposed to mean? You can’t just _give it to me_ when I’m _right_,” Vivi argued with a stamp of her foot. Renee and Kathy leaned closer and chuckled.

The door to the cottage opened and Phoebe came out, tucking her work gloves into her back pocket. There was something odd about the look on her face and the way she held her hands, but she smiled lightly at them when they looked at her.

“I’m just thinking it’s about time for lunch? It sounds like y’all have been having a great time,” Phoebe said in amusement.

“Yeah, man, I worked up hunger enough t’eat an _elephant_,” Kathy agreed, placing a hand on her belly.

“I thought the expression was hungry enough to eat a horse?” Vivi asked with a wrinkle to her nose. Kathy’s scandalized expression in her direction had Vivi laughing despite herself, though she smothered it quickly with her hand as she hid her face.

“I’d ruther _starve_,” Kathy replied fiercely.

“Luckily, neither horse _or_ elephant are on the menu. We made some perfectly delicious sandwiches, and a big batch of kimchi, and orange cookies for dessert!”

“Kimchi? Hm, haven’t had that in a while. It sounds great,” Phoebe said with a smirk. “Maybe we can try horse next time.”

“Oi, not funny, Kettles,” Kathy said, loping after Phoebe into the cottage. “Y’all stay out here, we’ll bring it all out!”

Renee and Vivi turned to each other. Vivi raised an eyebrow.

“We could put away the rackets and birdies?”

“I suppose we could… or we could pet the turtle trying to eat that birdie Kathy left by the water,” Vivi said.

“Oh! A turtle!” Renee gushed. They hurried over to save the turtle from its own curiosity and Vivi introduced Renee, though the turtle didn’t have a name to introduce in return. “Why not?”

“He isn’t a _pet_, he’s a friend. And he hasn’t told me if he has a name, so… he’s just Turtle.”

“Why don’t you _ask_ him?”

“He’s a little shit and won’t tell me. Like _all_ turtles,” Vivi explained with a miffed sniff.

Renee burst into shocked laughter at Vivi’s foul language.

Lunch was spread over a checkered picnic blanket that appeared in Vivi’s linen chest when Kathy opened it a second time. The first time it had been filled with only velvet cloaks, oddly. While they dug into their hearty sandwiches and kimchi, Vivi set aside a pile of fresh summer berries. A big, lumbering raccoon and a twitchy weasel came and went after snagging a few berries for themselves, but Turtle came and settled down to eat what was left with diligent, steady bites. He ended up looking half bloody with all the berry juice covering his face, but he looked so content even Renee could see it and she was by no means a veteran at reading turtle expressions.

“So I heard that you finally had some kids born at Horn Ranch?” Phoebe asked as she sipped her fresh orange juice. Oranges from Evie’s brand-new tree that Renee’s dad had bought as soon as he’d seen them in the Trade Box. It’d been a long time since oranges looked that good in Castanet. Chase was probably over the moon.

Renee brushed crumbs from her mouth and nodded eagerly. “Yes! There are two right now, but we’re sure Judith is expecting now!”

“Goats, yes? I wonder if that means your family will be making that cheese again?” Vivi asked, licking a bit of butter off her finger.

“You’ve had my mother’s goat cheese?” Renee asked in confusion. Vivi rolled her eyes, but her pale cheeks looked pink.

“It was _famous_. Of course I had some.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to make a name for Castanet again?” Phoebe mused wryly. “Instead of being the surrounding counties’ charity case.”

“We ain’t _just _a charity case. People still talk 'bout Castanet green tea. I reckon some stores still got it in stock somewhere,” Kathy said with a little dubious frown at the end.

“It’d be nice if Ruth and Craig could’ve gotten a crop going this year, but they like their flowers more. Didn’t they used to win prizes for their honey?” Renee asked rhetorically.

“Used to be the best honey around for potions,” Vivi agreed with a regretful sigh. Renee frowned. That sounded like more than just regret, though. She peeked over at Vivi, wondering just what it was in Vivi’s tone that sounded so strange. But Vivi was petting Turtle, her hair a conveniently placed curtain over her face.

She somehow sounded… guilty.

“I don’t know how much their honey will help you nowadays. You’re not having much luck with potions,” Phoebe pointed out.

Vivi looked up with a fierce scowl. “I _know_ that.”

“Is it for the same reason everything else started failing in Castanet?” Phoebe asked shrewdly. Renee and Kathy exchanged a startled look, neither having made that all too obvious connection, and Vivi’s mouth dropped open.

“I- uh, w-what? Why in the Goddess’ name would you think that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, it just seemed too unlikely to be a coincidence. You all but disappeared from the public eye 80 years ago, and everything started dying 80 years ago. Crops stopped growing, soil starting degrading, wind stopped blowing, and fish stopped coming here to breed and feed. And your magic is… well… a mess. My grandma told me that people came far and wide for your potions and charms, and now you can’t even make yourself tea?” Phoebe listed off, casually sipping orange juice when she stopped.

Vivi pursed her glossy lips and glowered. “You’re connecting some very distant dots, Ms. Kettles.”

“Seems like those dots correlate rather definitely.”

“Whatever the reason, it ain’t our business what’s goin’ on with her magic,” Kathy interrupted firmly. She gave Phoebe a look and a raised eyebrow. “She ain’t an ‘speriment fer ya t’work on, Pheebs.”

Phoebe actually looked contrite and nodded her head towards Vivi. “Kat’s right. I’m sorry, Ms. Witch.”

“Vivi.” It looked pulled out of her like a rotten tooth, but she didn’t take it back. “You can call me Vivi. Since you’re helping me.”

“Yeah, about that! How is it going?” Renee blurted, grateful for the change of subject.

Instead of perking up at the mention of her work, as usual, Phoebe only frowned harder.

“You had good intentions, Renee, but I don’t know if this is more than a waste of time,” the woman admitted with uncharacteristic negativity. Renee gasped in shock, her hands over her mouth. Kathy looked like she’d been slapped.

“_Excuse me_? If you didn’t want to help, you didn’t have to! I told you again and again to just leave!” Vivi snarled. Pheobe blinked in surprise and then quickly held up a hand.

“Wait, no, that was out of context, I’m sorry again. I don’t mind the work, Ms. Witch- er, Ms. Vivi. The project seemed like an interesting challenge, but…” Phoebe took off her glasses and rubbed them with the hem of her shirt. She put them back on and sighed. “I don’t know if it’ll work. In fact, I think it might end up being dangerous for you.”

The three listeners looked at one another in bafflement.

“Phoebe… everyone uses electricity nowadays,” Renee pointed out.

“Even in the sticks, we rednecks still know how t’flip a dang switch, Pheebs.”

“No, I mean, for _Ms. Vivi_. _Here_.”

“I may be unfamiliar with electricity, but I’m not _scared_,” Vivi protested in annoyance.

Phoebe groaned again, looking upwards as if for strength. “I hate to admit it, because I’m not sure how much I believe in magic and fortune telling, but… I have to say it. Your home doesn’t like what I’m doing.”

“What?” the three other women chorused.

“Your… magic…” Phoebe grimaced at the word. “Your magic may not be at its best, but it exists. It has existed here in this place for centuries, or however long you’ve lived here.”

“I haven’t lived for _centuries_. Decades, yes. Maybe one century… and a half…” Vivi muttered, arms crossed over her chest.

Renee clasped her hands and gasped happily. That was closest she’d ever gotten to saying her age and it was _exciting_. She really was a _real witch_ if she’d lived so long and looked barely older than twenty-five. Kathy snorted and elbowed Renee’s side, as if hearing exactly what was in her head.

“The exact number doesn’t matter,” Phoebe said dismissively. “What matters is that it’s been a long time and it’s… How to explain? If someone were to drain the Watery Cave of any water in it, even years later it’d still smell and __feel __like the Watery Cave, like saltwater and brine. You can't just clean it out and expect nothing to linger. Or… if you burned out forest slash, it leaves behind the smell of smoke weeks, or longer, after the fire is gone,” Phoebe tried to explain.

“It is true I didn’t have electricity before because it didn’t play well with my spells, but… how could you be sure that it wouldn’t work now?” Vivi asked, brows furrowing.

Phoebe grimaced again and then held up her hands. Across her palms were small, bright pink welts that looked a lot like burns. “The wires aren’t even plugged into a source yet and they’ve been sparking at me all morning. I thought I was imagining things at first, but it burnt through my gloves in some places. If that’s what it’s like now… I’m worried that it could potentially set your house on fire. That’s the real reason I stopped for lunch.”

They all stared at Phoebe’s hands. Then, Vivi snapped, her whole body shaking with the fury that burned in her eyes.

“You were _hurting yourself_ and didn’t bother to say anything!?” Vivi burst out. Phoebe reeled back, looking bewildered at the direction this seemed to be going. The Witch got to her feet and stomped towards the cottage, muttering the entire time. “Silly _mundanes_, with their devil-may-care attitude towards _pain_, I can’t believe-!” The door slammed shut and Phoebe stared at Kathy and Renee, nonplussed.

“Is she mad at me? Or _for_ me?” Phoebe asked in confusion.

“Mebbe a little o’ both?” Kathy suggested. Renee nodded vigorously.

“I don’t think she’s good at showing _concern_,” Renee said thoughtfully.

“’specially fer others. Mebbe easier fer _you_, Rey. You’re evurryone’s favorite, yanno,” Kathy said, leaning over to brush that stray bit of hair behind her ear again. Renee blushed and this time leaned into the touch, instead of letting it become something too fleeting. Kathy’s movement stilled, her fingers resting behind Renee’s ear and the hinge of her jaw.

Phoebe smirked. “I take it those rumors were real, too. Toby mentioned something about Renee tricking you into a fishing date.”

“It wasn’t a trick!” Renee gasped, red from what felt like head to toe.

“It weren’t a date!” Kathy snapped, just as red.

Renee felt her breath catch in her chest, just behind her breastbone, and she turned to Kathy to whisper, “It wasn’t?”

Kathy shook her head. “No way. Our firs’ date is gonna be at the beach. Ya already said yes,” she explained with a small, shy smile. Renee’s answering grin felt big enough to break her face in two.

“Yeah? It’s a real date?”

“Yeah.”

Renee gazed in Kathy’s green gaze and felt that breath in her chest expand into something bigger, warmer, brighter than she’d ever felt before. Had anyone ever looked at her the way Kathy was looking at her? Hopeful and longing and _breath-taking_? What would it be like to _feel_ all that? To feel it in Kathy’s hands on her skin? In her arms holding her too tightly? In her kisses that Renee couldn’t help but daydream about instead of finishing her morning chores?

The front door slamming broke Kathy and Renee’s silent, too-intense staring, and they both startled in place, blushing again. Only this time, Phoebe was also a little red, fidgeting with cleaning her glasses again and pointedly not looking at them. Vivi flopped down on the blanket, her arms full of clean, white bandages and several glass bottles, stoppered with very old, unbroken wax. She place everything in meticulous order on the blanket in front of herself and then snapped her fingers imperiously at Phoebe. Who merely raised an incredulous eyebrow. Vivi flushed and scowled.

“Give me your hands. These are from before— _before_. They should work just fine. It was my healing potions that people came for, didn’t you know?” Vivi said with a proud tilt of her chin.

Phoebe blinked. “No, actually, I didn’t.” She held out her hands slowly.

“It’s not going to hurt, you baby. It’s magic, not ritualistic torture,” Vivi said as she dragged Phoebe closer. The blanket got yanked askew under Phoebe’s knees, but she just rearranged her legs to sit a little easier and Vivi got to work.

Renee watched breathlessly, the sharp tang of herbs filling her nose when Vivi cracked the seal on a bottle. She dabbed at the burns, muttering under her breath as she eyes glowed eerily. It made the summer sunlight seem _dim_ in comparison to those bright orange eyes. Kathy sneezed once, but Vivi just glared and kept her gaze on Phoebe’s hands, her mouth never stopping its quiet mutterings as she dabbed a little from each bottle over the burns. It reminded Renee of Snape from the Sorcerer’s Stone, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling. Finally, Vivi sat back and began to expertly wrap Phoebe’s hands. Phoebe was staring at them as if she’d never seen her own hands before.

“It feels… strange? I think the pain is gone?” For once, Phoebe brisk, no-nonsense voice sounded breathless.

“Of course it is. I’m not a _novice_. Pain relief is this one,” Vivi said, holding up one bottle, then setting it down and continuing her bandaging.

“A numbing agent? It’s not exactly magical. We have that—”

“Aurgh, _Phoebe_. It’s _magic_. Didja _see_ them _eyes_?” Kathy interrupted before Vivi could get offended. Phoebe frowned, but didn’t argue.

“I’m so glad I got to see it! Real magic! Healing magic! Just like in a video game, or Harry Potter!” Renee gushed happily.

Vivi preened. “It wasn’t much. I’ve always had a knack for healing—”

“Whassat smell?” Kathy said, nose lifting to the air. All of them stopped and sniffed, and Vivi’s face went bone white.

“Fire,” she whispered.

Phoebe was already on her feet, rushing towards the cottage where the smell was coming from. Renee jumped up, too, knocking plates and cups every which way, but Kathy’s arms around her waist and holding her back kept her from following Vivi and Phoebe into the house.

“Rey, ya don’ know what’s in there! Stay outta the way with me, we might need t’run fer help,” Kathy told her quickly.

“But Vivi—”

“Pheebs’ll handle it, Rey,” Kathy assured her. Renee tucked into Kathy’s embrace and shivered all over as that horrid burning smell got stronger and thin wisps of smoke seeped through the windows and doorway. “I don’ see a fire, tha’s good.”

Phoebe and Vivi came back out a second later, both coughing and waving their hands in front of their faces. Soot smudged Phoebe’s glasses, but there were no other traces of the smoke smell on them.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t a fire, not really,” Phoebe told them with a groan, wiping at her face and knocking her glasses askew.

“No, but my house is _trashed_ now. How can I stay in there with that _awful_ smell?” Vivi said, her bottom lip wobbly belying the harsh anger in her tone.

“What _is_ that?” Renee whimpered.

“Rubber,” Phoebe sighed. “The wires, every single wire, melted. It’s all a pile of copper and rubber, some of it burnt right into the wood where I’d already put it up. This proves my theory. It _is_ too dangerous.”

“That’s great for _you_, Miss Know It All, but what am I supposed to do now? My house… my _home_, it’s _ruined_.” Vivi turned abruptly away when her voice cracked on the last word. Her shoulders and fists hanging at her sides shook wildly.

Phoebe glanced at Vivi’s back, sympathetic concern written clear across her face.

“We gotta do _somethun_. We can’ jus’ do nothun and leave ‘er here,” Kathy said.

Phoebe frowned, glanced back at the house, then wiped her glasses free again. “If you’re not opposed, you can stay with me,”she suggested to Vivi. Vivi spun around in shock. “There’s an empty house in Garmon district. I use it sometimes when I don’t want to wake up my parents if I get out of the Mines late. I got the key from Gill more than a year ago. I’ll set you up there and help you work all the appliances.”

“You don’t… I can rent a room at Ocarina. That’s what an Inn is for,” Vivi said, her words sounding strangely thick.

Phoebe nodded and shrugged. "That’s true. If you think you’ll be more comfortable there, then of course you can. But I understand how important privacy is. You won’t get that in town… especially not at the Inn.”

Kathy snorted outright and quickly hid her face in Renee’s hair. Even Renee was shaking with repressed giggles. Vivi stared at them all.

“Maya.” All three said at the same time. Vivi’s eyebrow rose.

“Whatever you prefer, Ms. Vivi. Whatever you choose, I’ll personally see to fixing the mess in your house. I don’t want you to get hurt because of my negligence,” Phoebe said firmly.

Vivi blinked. “But… you were only here because Evelyn asked you a favor. It’s not your fault.”

Phoebe shrugged again. “I should’ve realized this was a possibility and taken it all down. It was my own stubbornness that held my tongue all morning. I didn’t believe in your magic, Ms. Vivi. Your home paid the price for my skepticism.” She waved a hand towards the still decidedly-odorous cottage.

Vivi’s mask slipped and a small, incredulous smile tilted up the side of her mouth. It disappeared quickly. “Well, I can’t argue with that. I’ll get my things and you’ll clean up what you can now. Then, you’ll personally escort me to this house in the Garmon district. This… _Maya_ sounds like someone I would not want as a housemate. You were right about me preferring _privacy_.”

Phoebe smirked and then, to everyone’s surprise, bowed like a knight to a queen. “As you wish.”

Renee burst into giggles, while Vivi's mouth dropped open and her pale face flushed bright pink.

“_That_ was smooth,” Kathy whispered in Renee’s ear. Goosebumps traveled down every inch of Renee’s skin at the warm brush of Kathy’s breath.

“Very,” Renee gasped quietly.

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, I was trying to get all three chapters done by the update, but that didn't happen. But! The first two are done! They should all be up by next Tuesday, because why in the world did I give myself a Sunday update? I work Wed-Sunday oops. 
> 
> Secondly, I am replaying through HM:AP to remember my old muse, and I’m actually gonna marry Toby this time. SORRY LU-LU. But I’m getting all the Bachelorettes to 7 Hearts and just found out that Kathy’s mom died in canon. Whoops? And finally paid attention to Julius’ dialogue and noticed that Mira’s husband was his boss and Mira isn’t his aunt at all. …pah. I hate most of his storyline in the game anyway. Bye Felicia.


End file.
